When the California Water Commission this year surveyed water agencies about storage proposals that might qualify for funding under Proposition 1, the 2014 water bond approved by state voters, half the responses involved groundwater projects. A confluence of factors is focusing attention on stowing supplies underground, which is generally cheaper and less environmentally damaging than
Two well-known Republicans submitted language Thursday for a ballot initiative that would ask California voters to redirect about $8 billion in bond money from the state's high-speed rail project to build water storage. Board of Equalization member George Runner and Sen. Bob Huff of San Dimas, the former Senate minority leader, said they filed language
Two research sites in Central Valley have earned a $12.3-million dollar grant to study how the drought is triggering genetic changes in plants. The goal is to see how plants respond genetically to drought conditions and if more hardy plants can reveal the secrets of how they survive. The scientists will work at the UC
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials said that because its customers have done such a good job saving, the agency is short on revenue. To help fill in the gap, the Board of Water and Power Commissioners approved a pass-through charge that will require an average customer to pay about $1.80 more a
Biologist Greg Asner first heard the numbers in April, but they did little to prepare him for what he saw. The Forest Service had estimated that nearly 12.5 million trees in the state's southern and central forests were dead. But as Asner peered down upon the same forests from his airplane at 6,000 feet, he
In the latest sign that El Niño conditions are likely to bring wet weather to drought-parched California, federal scientists on Thursday announced for the first time that the entire state -- including the northern part of California from the Bay Area to the Oregon border -- is now expected to receive average or above-average rainfall
Gov. Jerry Brown is picking a fight over a two-decade-old law that can make it difficult to increase water rates, raising the possibility of a new battle over the issue at the ballot box next year. He’s turning his attention to the issue as he seeks more flexibility to fund infrastructure improvements and use financial
Denver Post Commentary What if someone suggested to you a new policy, one that would result in less food production, a loss of states' rights and more federal control, less water for your household, for migratory birds and economic activity, and also would spawn endless lawsuits? What if this new policy governed water in a
Water Year 2015 has been noteworthy for much less precipitation than normal in California, temperatures much warmer than normal and a growing El Niño in the Eastern Pacific that many Californians hope will end the state’s drought. Most of all, Water Year 2015 will be remembered as the fourth year of one of the state’s
Toilet-to-tap technology is already here. Two water districts in the Bay Area — the Dublin San Ramon Services District and the Santa Clara Valley Water District — are testing systems that filter sewer water and purify it to the point that it can be consumed by the public. Orange County has a system in place